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With over 7 million active channels on Twitch, it can be challenging to grow your channel and get noticed on the platform. Wouldn’t it be nice to grow quickly and make it to the front page? That’s what some channels that use viewbotting to inflate their numbers might have thought. However, Twitch will no longer turn a blind eye to this and is taking a firm stance against these deceptive practices. Discover what this means for streamers and influencer marketing, and why you should still verify those viewer stats with third-party tools!
The issue of viewbotting has recently been highlighted by key figures within the streaming community. However, it has always been a problem on Twitch that also directly affects influencer marketing campaigns on the platform.
If you’re new to the topic and want to learn more about how viewbotting directly impacts influencer marketing, you can check out our article on The Rise of Botting in Social Media Marketing.
Twitch streamer and industry veteran Devin Nash recently made a series of claims on X, alleging that viewbotting is "way more prevalent and destructive for platforms than most people realize." According to Nash, his agency's research suggests that a significant section of the platform's top streamers are using bots to inflate their viewership. This practice not only creates a false sense of popularity but also skews the advertising market, where Nash noted that smaller streams (with 500-1,000 viewers) often outperformed much larger ones in terms of sales conversions.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has also been open about the issue, confirming that viewbotting is a "constant battle." In a recent interview, he stated that while many assume it's only a few large streamers, most of the fraud is not on "a big streamer, it’s on the small streamers, but thousands of them." Clancy explained that bots are used for various malicious purposes, from harassment to generating ad revenue, and that the fight against them is a "cat and mouse game" as bot creators constantly evolve their tactics to evade detection.
For streamers, Twitch's renewed focus on combating viewbotting is a necessary step towards a fairer ecosystem. Legitimate creators who work hard to build a community and audience will no longer have to compete with channels that are propelled to the top of the list by fraudulent numbers. It means that authentic engagement has a better chance of being rewarded.
However, this also means a higher risk for those who have been using bots or are victims of viewbotting (yes, there are also cases of channels being botted by strangers). The platforms' terms of service are clear: viewbotting is a bannable offense. Streamers who are caught can face serious consequences, including account suspension or even a permanent ban.
The rise of viewbotting has created a significant challenge for influencer marketing. Brands rely on accurate data to make informed decisions about their campaigns. When viewer numbers are faked, the entire foundation of a marketing strategy can crumble. Advertisers risk wasting their budgets on ads that are being "viewed" by bots, and the engagement metrics they use to measure success become meaningless.
Twitch's efforts to eliminate viewbots are a crucial step in restoring trust in the influencer marketing space. It allows brands to feel more confident that the metrics they see reflect real human engagement, making it easier to identify truly impactful partnerships.
Given the "cat and mouse" nature of viewbotting, platform-level crackdowns, while essential, are only one part of the solution. This is where third-party analytics tools become invaluable. While a stream may show a high viewer count on Twitch's dashboard, advanced analytics can reveal inconsistencies, like a high viewer-to-chat ratio, a low follower-to-viewer ratio, or a sudden, unexplainable spike in views. These tools provide a crucial second layer of verification for both streamers and brands.
A great example of this is our ongoing collaboration with Streams Charts. Our joint "Beating the Bots" campaign is a strategic initiative aimed at raising awareness about the issue of viewbotting and providing brands with the tools to navigate it. By combining Streams Charts' in-depth data with our marketing expertise, the campaign empowers brands to perform due diligence, analyze audience demographics, and ensure the authenticity of their campaign collaborations.
This partnership highlights the importance of using robust, independent data to protect against fraud and build a more trustworthy and effective influencer marketing strategy. You can learn more about this collaboration here, on our LinkedIn or on Streams Charts channels.
